Win
by nejitenteji10sasu10
Summary: "How can... one of the strongest... fall in battle?" Another way Chapter 614 could have ended. There is still character death. Please be warned. NejiTen. Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.


She was not the only one stunned into silence when she heard the unmistakable explosion that signified Konoha, and all of her inhabitants, blowing into pieces. A few tears sparked into her vision, and she rubbed them away quickly. _Not now, Tenten. You're in the middle of a war, you have to mourn them when this is all over. If you're still alive when this is all over, that is_, she thought wryly, and shook her head.

Her teammates hadn't been out of her head since the start of the damn war. It was bad enough that the three of them had been put in different divisions, it was even worse now that she only had a few glimpses of Lee so far, and that she hadn't even seen Neji yet... A fact that was starting to worry her. Hard-headed as she was, she didn't even acknowledge the feelings she had harbored for him for a long time. That was, until she noticed that he was one of the most important things in her life... And she almost couldn't bear separating from him before the war.

She clenched her fists.

The feelings she had tried so hard to repress for her stoic fellow teammate were starting to spill out bit by bit on the battle field, something she was resenting. Of all the times that her emotional side had to escape, it chose _now_? She sighed, and then got back into focus, commanding herself not to lose it.

There was a faint commotion at the head of the battlefield, where Naruto was, and Tenten, noticing a lack of White Zetsu, decided to take a closer look at what was going on. Also part of her agenda was seeing if Neji was alright. For all she was concerned, he could have fallen dead without her even knowing... Although she doubted it would happen.

_Hyuga Neji is amazing. He can't die. He won't die._

"You're the key to this strategy!"

Tenten knew that voice from anywhere. She tiptoed to see Neji approach Naruto, and felt remorse strike her again when she saw the looks on Ino and Shikamaru's faces. Obviously, something had gone on while she was way at the back.

"Not that! Those guys, Shikaku and Inoichi, what happened to them?!" Naruto growled at Neji. But before Neji had a chance to answer, another explosion racked through the battlefield, which made Tenten stumble backwards and shield her eyes from the dust.

She lost track of everything then, and just tried to get away from whatever attack this was supposed to be now, and found herself even closer to Naruto than she had been earlier, and gasped as she saw destruction again before her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she whirled around, only to realize that it was Hinata. The Hyuga gave her a gentle squeeze. "It will be alright, Tenten," Hinata said softly, but with much more bravery in her voice than she usually did. "It will be alright," she repeated.

Tenten was about to reply, but was interrupted by another shout coming from somewhere in front of her. "HAKKESHOU KAITEN!"

No matter how many times Tenten had seen Neji do that, it always stunned her how remarkably powerful he was... Way too good for her. She cursed, and reminded herself that war was the worst place to get distracted. Hinata was beaming; Tenten bet that Hinata had never been so proud to be a part of a clan like theirs.

"If we lose this battle... It means total extermination!"

"I know that!" Naruto barked back at the elder Hyuga.

There was a pause before Neji spoke, though he didn't turn his back. "Shikamaru and Ino's father both knew that giving their lives before their children do is a responsibility of us as Shinobi!" Tenten found herself touched by Neji's words, and almost didn't hear the continuation of his speech. "My father did the same." Hinata moved suddenly from beside Tenten, joining Neji and Hiashi. "For this strategy, Naruto, we need your strength! Until we can get this underway-"

"We'll protect you," Hinata finished, in a softer, calmer way than Neji had, but with the same strength. Tenten felt a surge of confidence through her, and she smiled in spite of herself. The Hyuga's really were something.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, and Tenten couldn't help but bite back a grin; she, like everyone else, was well aware of Hinata's feelings for Naruto. Maybe things would be looking up for Hinata?

"Rest assured, we are Konoha's strongest!" Hiashi declared, and Tenten wondered briefly if the other ninjas would take this statement well.

Before she could listen to the others reactions, though, the Ten-Tails moved, and everyone shifted back into battle mode. The time for talking was over. "Mokuton! Sashiki no Jutsu!" Tenten didn't have time to react as each of the Ten Tails tails' turned into hands, and while screeching an ear-piercing scream, fired off large, razor sharp spikes from each of the hands. Tenten gasped as she jumped to the left, narrowly missing one of them, and even as she looked to her right, one spike pierced the heart of a ninja she recognized from Konoha straight through the heart. _Oh, no, this is just way too fast, _Tenten thought in horror.

Through the flurry of spikes, Tenten heard the clatter of a forehead protector clatter to the ground in front of her, and she looked up to see that the owner was none other than Neji. Neji's head was turned to the side a bit, almost as if he had been slapped, and Tenten connected the dots and assumed that one of the spikes had knocked his forehead protector off. Oh, it was better than one or two of them stabbing him in the heart, anyway. She belatedly realized that his head to the side put him directly in line with her vision... And with his Byakugan on, she knew he could see her.

They locked eyes, and even though in truth, they were only a few meters apart, Tenten felt as if they were on opposite sides of the battlefield. She couldn't open her mouth to even say his name, which she found pretty weak. She felt as if everything was moving in slow motion, even the spikes, which seemed to be concentrating somewhere else at the moment. She wanted to say something to him, because for some reason she _wanted_ to, for some reason she just wanted to yell to the world for him to be careful... Heck, she just wanted to say his name and want him to hear her. Before she could, though, he moved first. His mouth opened partway, and although the battlefield was too loud, she knew he was mouthing the first part of her name. 'Ten-'

Suddenly, Naruto's giant Rasengan materialized out of seemingly nowhere, blocking her vision from Neji's. "Thanks, Neji! I made it into Sage Mode!" Naruto announced. He fired off a Rasenshuriken and fired off even more as Tenten noticed a great Earth barrier coming up somewhere else. Hinata blocked one of the spikes which were about to impale Naruto as he caught his breath for a short moment.

"Hakke Kuuhekishou!" Neji bellowed, blocking off an entire group of spikes.

Tenten also did her best deflecting the spikes and protecting others, using her chains to yank some out of harm's way, and using her weapons to knock some of the smaller ones away from herself. She could only hope that Neji was doing alright.

_No, Tenten, stop thinking like that!_ She chided herself as she jumped away from another set of spikes. _He won't die. He won't die. HE WON'T DIE._

Another movement caught her attention. After all that chaos, Neji, Hinata and Naruto were now somewhat farther away from her left, but she was still able to hear what the trio was saying. Her heart seized as one of the tails looked like it was going to aim straight for the three of them. _Oh. No. No. No._

She felt as if her world was about to stop turning. If the tail was _that_ close to them, and it was already firing off spikes at a pretty fast speed... She didn't need to be Shikamaru or Neji to know that even the Hyuga's strongest Kaiten wouldn't deflect all of those spikes. Tenten's feet seemingly moved on her own as she tried desperately to shove through the crowd and make it to the trio in time.

"No!" she screamed, not caring who heard her, not caring who saw the tears which were threatening to spill out of her eyes, as she saw Hinata move in place to protect Naruto...

And saw Neji start to jump in order to save both Hinata and Naruto.

"Neji!" she screamed, finally saying his name out loud, relishing his name rolling around her mouth, short name as it was, as she jumped and pushed him to the side as she resumed his earlier position of extending his arms like an eagle.

She turned her head wearily to the side; again, it seemed as if everything were moving in slow motion... _I guess wars do that to you_, Tenten mused. She saw Neji's horrified look bore holes into her even as she felt two or three spikes doing the same to her body. Both Hinata and Naruto were looking at her in shock, and Tenten didn't even feel any pain as she fell down to her knees.

"Oh, look..." she muttered, as she heard 'Doton, Sando no Jutsu' being echoed around the whole battlefield. "There are three of them, not two," she muttered, looking at three bloody tips poking out of her body. She felt Hinata catch her as she swayed a bit, and Naruto reached out for her.

"WE NEED A FREAKING MEDIC OVER HERE!" Naruto was saying in a loud, panicked voice, even though Tenten was shaking her head.

"It's too late-"

Suddenly, Naruto was pushed to the side by someone... Tenten was finding it hard to see, she just felt so _sleepy_... Someone with long hair. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, and then, softened, as though afraid to cause even more pain.

"Tenten!"

_Oh, Neji..._

Neji's face cleared up a bit in front of her, and she was suddenly able to notice every detail about him as he glared down at her with the unmistakable shine of tears in his eyes. "Been a long time since I've seen you... Cry... " she said slowly, and then coughed. A trail of blood trickled out of her mouth.

"Damnit, why did you do that, Tenten?" Neji said. "Medic! Now! Where is-"

"You... Can't die..." Neji looked at her with so much pain that she almost stopped talking.

"How can... One of the strongest... Fall in battle?"

"I-"

"Neji..." Tenten said softly. "I'm sorry..."

Some time by now, Hinata had removed herself from Tenten's side. The more sensitive Hyuga had always been a bit suspicious of the relationship between the two partners and teammates, and now she had the tact to give them the last bit of time they might have. She pointedly pulled Naruto a little farther away. "Naruto-kun, we have to give them time to themselves, okay?" she said softly.

Naruto nodded stiffly.

"You... You recklessly saved my life, and got yourself..." Neji found that he couldn't go on, and, overwhelmed with grief, bowed his head.

Tenten, with great effort, reached up a hand and put it on his face. "Neji... Don't blame yourself... Don't ever... Blame-"

It was at that moment that Neji brought his head up and gave her a gentle, chaste kiss on her mouth. Tenten closed her eyes. "Neji..."

"You didn't have to die for me," Neji said softly, but urgently. "I-"

"I... Had to... There was no other way," she protested.

She suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and fatigue, and she knew that it was almost time. A few tears gathered in her eyes. So much to say. "Lee... Gai-sensei," she tried to say, but then coughed a bit more blood.

"They'll be okay," Neji said, brushing some hair that had come loose away from her eyes. She felt the gesture comforting.

Fitting for death.

"Naruto... Hinata... Tell them... Don't be guilty," she tried to say, and started falling forward into his arms, losing her strength little by little.

"I will," Neji said, wrapping his arms around her and the spikes sticking dangerously out of her body.

"Neji... I love you," Tenten said softly, as her eyes started closing.

"I love you too," Neji replied, the girl that he had loved for more than half his life slowly becoming lifeless in his arms; a scenario he had never thought possible.

"Win," she said, even softer than a whisper.

He felt it through his whole body when Tenten, the Weapon's Mistress, stopped breathing.

(*)

_Oh, my god. I didn't want to kill Tenten. I didn't mean to. Oh my god I am so sorry. I meant to have her wake up from a dream, crying or something. But it didn't seem right. I don't know I didn't feel like it. I'm getting to be pretty angsty. My feelings right now are, _

_**"OKAY SO MASASHI KISHIMOTO KILLED THE FIRST HALF OF MY OTP, I MIGHT AS WELL KILL THE OTHER HALF"**_

_I'm sorry. T_T This is very unlike me. Hahaha. Read and Review guys. I copied most of the dialogue from Chapter 614, to make it as realistic as possible. It hurts even more. T_T I'm sorry if her last words are crappy. It's just that I don't think Tenten would be so girly as to have her last words as, 'I love you' or 'Get over me' or 'You'll love someone else' or 'I'll be waiting for you..' No, she just doesn't seem the type to do that._

_I won't be surprised if people flame me for killing her... D: It was a whim. Sorry again._

_Thanks for clicking on this, guys. _


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